Careers Volunteer
by Charlieem
Summary: Collins mentioned that volunteering was different in the Career Districts. So how did it work? A three shot of my idea's. Told from the POV of the 74th Hunger Games tributes. T because it's the Hunger Games
1. District 1

Suzanne Collins mentioned that volunteering was more complicated in career districts. Common SYOT's just have career tributes just fighting to get to the front first (I'm guilty to) but what if it was different? This is a three chaptered story with three different ideas of how the volunteer's are chosen for each of the three career districts. Written from the POV of the male tribute of that district from 74th games. Reviews are loved even criticism. Any suggestions for the title are also welcome.

**District One**

Marvel jogged quickly towards the Justice building. It was time for his trial. In his district volunteers had to sell themselves to a panel consisting of the head peacekeeper, the mayor, the head trainer and several past victors. He was seventeen now and had been volunteering since he was thirteen, thinking he wasn't ready when he was twelve but wanting to give himself as much chance as possible. He had first gotten a trial when he was fifteen. That year he had performed well enough in the physical side, which was similar to the training at the Hunger Games but had stumbled through the interview. Last year he felt he had done excellently in the physical side but still some of the questions surprised him. Like what he would do if the career pack didn't survive past the bloodbath. So this past year he had watched almost all of the past Games highlights as well as read numerous books on survival. He had spent nearly half the amount of time doing this as he had physical training. It was all a load of rubbish. Of course the careers wouldn't die in the bloodbath but the panel wanted the strongest volunteer as possible to give district one the best chance of having a victor.

He thought he was going to be late, hence the jogging however he ended up being about half an hour early which meant he faced a nail biting wait. If career's bit their nails of course.  
>At last his name was called and he entered a large room filled with weapons of all kinds. He walked to the centre where he stood proudly waiting for the panel waiting at the end of the room to speak.<p>

"You may begin Marvel."

He lifted up a bundle spears and walked to the end of the room. He then threw each spear with precision, each one hitting the centre of a purpose placed target. He then proceeded to show of his talent with other weapons.

Then came the questions.

"What will you tactics in the Games be?" asked the head peecekeeper.

"Ideally I would team up with my fellow tribute from one as well as two and four. I'd keep my eye on all other tributes in case these weren't good enough or died in the bloodbath. Then we would hunt down the other tributes. When there are only ten left I would break of the alliance by killing as many as possible in their sleep. Then I would survive on my own by hunting down whatever animals I could while killing of the remaining tributes."

"What makes you better than other people who have train all their lives for this?" Past years victors wanted to know.

"Well I can survive on my own. These other idiots are only going to do well if they make it into a pack and they're then hoping they'll win the fight at the end. I've been taking survival classes for a year so I can surprise my allies by breaking the alliance earlier then they expect. This'll give me a higher chance of surviving the inevitable career showdown."

"What will you do to stand out in training? The Gamemakers will be used to all your fancy moves"

"I'll probably severely injure one of the training assistants. A bit of blood and gore will get the Gamemakers going."

"Your interview angle?" the mayor asked.

"I'll be beyond arrogant. If I give people no reason to doubt I can win the Games they'll wonder why I'm so confident and come to the conclusion that there's a reason why I'm so confident and that reason is that I'm damn good."

"Thank you Marvel"

He was left to wait. He hadn't been dismissed out of hand, which meant he had to sit around while the other potential tributes tried to persuade the panel they had what it takes to win the Games.

At last the receptionist came out. They all knew that the name she called would be District One's volunteer.

"Marvel. They'll see you now" he felt incredible. He'd finally done it! "The rest of you can go home" the receptionist finished looking disdainfully at the rejected tributes.

They sat him down and told him the rules. Firstly he had to follow the stylist's advice from here on out. He would have a series of public appearance to warm the people of district one to him. He would do charity work, be seen dining with past victors and other such events.

Secondly in the case of him being reaped there would be a back up volunteer who would take his place. He would then volunteer next year. When he asked why he was told that a volunteer looks much stronger.

Finally if someone else tried to volunteer they would be tackled before they had a chance.

Finally the day of the reaping came. He couldn't wait until the time when he could get up on that platform as a tribute. He watched the girl chosen to volunteer took her place. Then it was his turn.

"Jasen Goodrock" an angry looking 18 year-old stepped up to the platform. He was clearly annoyed that he couldn't take his place in the Games.

"I volunteer" Marvel shouted when the time came.

He was a tribute in the 74th Hunger Games.

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><p>Anyway. Please review and if you like check out my other stories and vote in my Glastonbury 2011 poll!<p>

Especially review and any suggestions for a better title would be welcome.


	2. District 2

Suzanne Collins mentioned that volunteering was more complicated in career districts. Common SYOT's just have career tributes just fighting to get to the front first (I'm guilty to) but what if it was different? This is a three chaptered story with three different ideas of how the volunteer's are chosen for each of the three career districts. Written from the POV of the male tribute of that district from 74th games. Reviews are loved even criticism.

Thank you for all your reviews!

Credit and a huge thanks for the new catchier title goes to QueenOfTheButterflies

**District Two**

Clove had been training all his life for this moment. He had volunteered for the games. Him and 47 other teenager lads. He was pleased with the numbers. A couple of years ago over 100 people had volunteered. Today was the big day. He had made it through the preliminary test, which were mainly a review of training reports, and health tests. Now 32 remained to fight it out for the honour of being District One's male tribute. He he'd been invited to the sports fields on this dismal Tuesday morning. His friend Jason had also qualified and stood beside him now complaining about the weather.

"This IS the Hunger Games we're volunteering for Jase. Man up!" It was the first thing he had said all day. His head was utterly focused on what lay ahead.

He hardly even heard Jason's excuse. Sometimes he wondered why his friends was interested in the Hunger Games but then you only had to watch him in training to see he was deadly. Not as deadly as Cato himself but still deadly. Jason may complain daily about what he was doing to be in the Games but in reality he wanted to win them as much as any other kid in the district. Cato heard of other districts where the Hunger Games were dreaded. He had seen the tributes for these districts. They all looked terrified and were usually killed in the bloodbath. They rarely won. Completely the opposite of district two were everyone fought for the honour of being in the Games and normally came home a moth or so later as the victor.

Cato hoped to join this sacred circle. If he was lucky he would earn a place in victor village. District two had too many victors for the twelve houses so the capitol had built more in an area called victor sector. Even so the original victor village houses were slightly more luxurious and reserved only for the best victors including the mentors. If he put on a good enough show and were the capitol loved him enough he might get a house there.

First however he had to get through these one on one fights.

The first fight was easy. He really wasn't sure why this guy had volunteered. He looked about thirteen and barely put up a challenge. The rules of the match were fairly simple. You chose as many blunt weapons as you like and have to get in either a killing hit or three non-lethal hits. Cato tripped the boy up as he moved in to attack and drew his knife across the boy's throat.

The second fight was considerably harder. Half the competition had already been eliminated and this was the last one on one battle. As with before he waited for his opponent to attack him. This opponent dodged when he tried to trip him and spun round almost getting in a non-lethal hit. Cato dodged and managed to get a non-lethal hit of his own on his opponents back. Slightly more wary now his opponent backed of but now Cato was ready to take him down. He walked towards his opponent backing him up almost against the wall of the box like room they fought in. Cato drew a short sword from his back and attempted to land a blow. He blocked and they parried for a couple of minutes all the time the opponent getting more and more visibly tired until he slipped up and allowed Cato to stab his chest. The blade was blunt of course so the boy didn't actually die but he would probably go away with bruise ribs.

When they left the fighting area Cato called after the boy.  
>"Gain some stamina and confidence and you'll been in with a shot next year" after all I didn't harm to become friendly with a possible victor and they boy did have potential. The boy nodded and walked of. The disappointment on his face was clear but maybe after a day or two he would calm down and take Cato's advice.<p>

Cato briefly wondered if Jason would make it through to the finally stage. The Mock Games. The final 8 volunteers would enter a forest nearby with a cornucopia filled only with weapons. They would then participate in a mock games. These were normally over in a couple of days as the arena was fairly small. They wore light protective clothing. The volunteers all went in with a suit with pig blood bags around their vital organs to add realism. When a bag was burst you were out. The last man standing was in. They also wore masks to protect their identity. In the past boys had come close to wining to Mock Games and were favourites to be tributes next year only to be assassinated by other boys desperate to volunteer and threatened by his talent. It was stupid really because if someone needed to kill another to be good enough to volunteer they had no chance in the Games.

He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body as he stepped into the tube that would take him up into the fake arena. District two had invested in making the arena as realistic as possible.

As soon as the gong sounded he sprinted for the golden horn and grabbed a mace. In one swift movement he swung it at an approaching volunteer and was rewarded with a burst of blood. The rejected boy took his mask of to show he was out and walked back to his shoot where he disappeared into the ground. Cato barely had time to relax as another boy approached. He drew a knife from the cornucopia and threw it at the boy hitting the bag around his throat. He then swung his mace at another boy smacking him in the kidney. Luckily the powers that be had put extra padding around the kidneys so the boy wasn't actually harmed but his chances of being district two's tribute were over. That was three out of eight gone; only four others left. He looked over. Make that three. Another volunteer had taken care of someone. Cato would happily stay and fight it out but rules dictated that when there were only four tributes "alive" they had to leave with what they had and spend a night in the forest before killing anyone else. This was to test survival, tracking and tactics skills as well as fighting. You weren't allowed to look for other volunteers until the next day.

He headed into the woods and after about half an hour he started to make a small hut out of branches. The idea was to make a huge mess and make a trail leading to a place where he could ambush them.

After a troubled sleep a loud gong woke him. The signal that they could start "killing" again. He was up in a second and grabbed his mace. He started to move through the forest making a large trail but at the same time making as little noise as possible. He tried to move in a direction vaguely parallel to the cornucopia. Eventually found a suitable tree and climbed up so he could hang above the forest floor. He waited for ages but at last a blonde headed boy came along. The boy was taking almost all precautions expect looking up. It was almost a shame to jump down and break one of his blood bags. That left two more opponents. He decided to travel back towards the cornucopia in hope of finding them. When he got there he found it abandon but took the chance to stock up with some knives around his body and changing his mace for a pair of double swords. The mace was all right but it was cumbersome and he much preferred the swords. He felt exposed so he walked to the edge of the hearing and crouched behind a bush. He noticed that a lot of this involved waiting around for people to appear. It wasn't nearly as action packed as he thought. After another long wait he heard a volunteer approaching from the opposite side of the clearing.

"They're making a lot noise" he thought. This was explained when both of the surviving boys charged into the clearing one chasing the other. Before Cato's eyes the chaser took the other boy down. He then helped him to his feet and shook his hand. The other boy limped of and travelled down one of the entry shoots.

Cato was about to leap up and attack the remaining boy when a voice rang out.  
>"Congratulations remaining Volunteers! As you know we've tried to make the Mock Games as realistic as possible. Only one of you can be in the 74th Games. To prove you can be the 74th victor you must fight to the death.<p>

Cato froze for a second, shocked. He thought the killing would only begin in the arena. After a second he realised it didn't really bother him. He just couldn't believe that he hadn't seen it coming. It took him a couple of seconds later to realise his plan of attack. He ran towards the only thing between him and being in the Games. He raised his sword and brought it down on the boys shoulder. He twisted and avoided the blow but Cato had drawn his other sword and struck the boys other shoulder. It was now bleeding heavily. It was very difficult to fight two swords with the long sword the boy thought with. Perhaps sensing this the boy backed of hoping for a reprieve. Cato didn't comply swiftly drawing a knife and throwing it at the boy's heart. He twisted to avoid however he was obviously tired and the knife lodged in his side. He fell to the ground. The fight was over.

Cato was breathing hard and took his mask of to get some air to his face. He moved over to the boy intending to end it quickly for him.

"Cato" the boy gasped. Cato recognised the voice. He removed the boys mask and recognised the face as well.  
>"I'm so sorry Jase!" he couldn't believe he'd killed his best friend.<p>

"It is the Hunger Games" Jase repeated Cato's earlier words "good luck mate"  
>Cato nodded. Jason had breathed his last.<p>

He couldn't quite believe this was happening. Then again if he could kill Jason he could kill anyone. Yes he could kill anyone the capitol threw at him. He could win theses Games.

* * *

><p>This one was much longer but I felt there was more to say about District two. I know Cato got over Jason pretty quick but he seemed pretty cold in the book.<p>

I've had what I think is a good idea for a short Hunger Games Story. More details at the end of the next chapter, which will also be the last . If you like this check out my over fics!

Please review and let me know which you prefer! I know which I had more fun writing! I can't wait to write the last chapter!


	3. District 4

District 4

Matrix couldn't help but feel on edge. This was his last chance for victory and a lifetime of bliss. He still remembered his first year volunteering, four years ago. He had genuinely believed back then that out of all the slips of paper his would be chosen. That year had been a record year with 76 volunteers so he hadn't felt to bad about not being chosen. The next year had been harder to take, only 30 volunteers. He was hugely jealous of his friend who had been chosen the next year though it diminished slightly when he got his head bashed in by a fallen rock. It was gruesome and very unlucky. Last year he volunteered almost out of habit and hadn't really been surprised when he hadn't been chosen. This year was different though. He could barely believe the years had past so fast.

He left his apartment with plenty of time to spare. He had cut all ties with his family at 7 when they disagreed with his choice to train for the games. A company that sponsored career tributes had given him the apartment. He would be given a place in a shared dormitory for other failed volunteers. He would work of his debt for the rest of his life by working for no pay and being given the bare minimal food. It was a dismal life but he hadn't appreciated that risk at 7. He might be able to track down his family but pride stopped him. It was the same with every other boy in the block. Something about the way they had been raised. He started to jog towards the reaping hall partly for fitness and partly because the reapers wouldn't wait for stragglers. He cursed his punctuality however when he arrived at the reaping hall with plenty of time to spare. He stood around nervously with the other volunteers until at last a pervious victor called Spira took to the stage. There weren't any escorts involved at this stage since technically training and pre-picking tributes was illegal

"Hello volunteers and welcome to the real reaping of the Hunger Games!" She stopped to wait for the few nervous titters to subside. " Those of you that have been here before will know that you are allowed to volunteer the same amount of times that your name will be entered into the reaping tomorrow. We counted you on the way in and there are 68 of you. May the odds be ever in your favour"

They slowly filed up to the golden ball that would tomorrow be filled with the names of every kid in the district. They could've just printed of the name of the kids in advance and put them in but it was kind of a ritual that you queued up and dropped your own name slips into the ball. Some even said good luck prayers over their names. Matrix never bothered but this year he sent a quick prayer up. He thought there was something a bit off about praying to a loving God that you got the chance to kill innocents but this year he was willing to try anything.

After nearly two hours of dropping names into the ball it was finally time.

"Quiet please quiet" Spira called "and the female tribute is Lyre" Matrix preferred the straight to the point style of the previous victor to the flowery slow pace of the escort that he would have to put up with tomorrow. "and the male tribute is Matrix. Could those two come hear please?" he couldn't believe his luck. He walked in a daze towards the front where he proved his identity and was given a run down. He couldn't really take in what was happening.

That was how he felt when he stood on the stage the next day, the plans for getting the chosen pair to become tributes having gone smoothly.

That was how he felt meeting his mentor, Finnick, and escort.

That was how he felt when he lay bleeding on the ground looking up at the beast of a boy sent by district 11.

So that was the last chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. I am sorry if you started reading this months ago but I hope you'll like the ending. Please tell me which of the three methods you prefer.

My next short fanfic for the Hunger Games is about what would've happened if prim had never been reaped so Katniss would never have volunteer and the rebellion would never have happened. It looks at whether or not the Hunger Games would've continued for all time or not. It'll be from various points of view but won't involve anyone from you'll know from the books.

Before this though I'm planning a SYOT Quell so please do check that out. I'm posting this at the same time as the reading of the cards.

PLEASE READ  
>I know we can't do fanfic for profit because its copyright but I think it would be ok if you like this or any of my fics for you to give to cancer research UK. Just as a friendly gesture. I'll be very grateful.<p> 


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